Tag: cleaning (page 4 of 5)

January 14, 2013 / 3 Comments

Our Weekend

We had a really fun weekend this weekend. We worked hard and we played hard. We tried a new recipe on Friday. I read the wonderful Katie at the Kichen Door blog and she featured this recipe on butter-roasted cinnamon chicken:

We really enjoyed it, but there are a few changes we would make, a bit more cinnamon to make it a little warmer and I thought about adding either some golden raisins or some chopped dried apricots or both to make it a bit more moorish!

The crunch of the almonds was a nice addition to the softness of the chicken and the wheat.

Saturday after running a few errands we went on a date! Mr. Michie took me to see Les Miserables. I saw it last year for the first time on the stage with my theatre buddy. It was wonderful. We both truly enjoyed it. Then, he took me on a date to one of our favourite little Irish pubs.

Mr. Michie had the sausage and mash:

and I had the steak and guinness pie:

Happiness!

Sunday morning it was freezing. I got a hot chocolate before we went grocery shopping:

After shopping and some brunch, we put on our work clothes and got to it. We cleaned our attic. That might not sound like a big deal, but for two people, we have a lot of stuff. It was really just more boxes up there then anything else. Well, that and all of our Christmas things. I have so much Christmas stuff, that Mr. Michie says one day the ceilings will fall down because of it and we will be covered in Christmas!

My coat got caught in the door and the button broke and since I had already used my spare, it was a trip to the haberdashery for more. I chose these and spent a bit of the early evening sewing them on. I like them, they give my coat a more vintage appearance.

For dinner we used the pizza dough recipe again from Annie’s Eats and made her Chicken Ranch Pizza, but put a few more veggies on it. It was delicious. We feasted on the couch and finally got caught up on the first season of Once! Now, I can’t wait to start the second!

For dessert it was hot chocolate and junior mints (a gift from my mom), a little Sunday night treat. This morning the snow didn’t come quickly enough, so off to school we go. I am still doing my snow dance, I hope to have just one snow day this term, they are so much fun.

January 8, 2013 / 0 Comments

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work we go….

We go back to school today and after such a long break, I am not sure I am ready. I just need a few more days in my house, hanging out, reorganizing and listening to good music with my Christmas lights on.

I can’t bear to take my lights down yet, so they will be up a little while longer, it is so nice as the nights close in early to have the den filled with the twinkle and glow of lights, it makes it a happier space.

We have already completed a few reorganizing projects since we have gotten back from the States. We cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and the drawers. We bought some new storage containers to put things in. It is silly, I know, but when I open my drawers now, they just make me happy because everything is in its place. I also de-cluttered one section of my closet and have items to use as dust rags, items to be turned into a sewing project and items that are going to Oxfam.

We tried a new pizza dough recipe Sunday night and it was delicious. I found it on the Annie’s Eats blog and is definitely going in our repertoire of dough recipes. Mr. Michie liked it so much, he cut the crust off a piece, just to eat the crust, he never does that!

I have a few things planned this week, that should make it fly by, but I am already ready for Friday night again, when I can just be with Mr. Michie. I am going to have to wear my pajamas inside out and do a snow dance and pray hard for at least one snow day this term, I am going to need it! Just to have one more day, curled up under blankets with my twinkle lights, Christmas music and a hot chocolate.

{image found here}

April 3, 2012 / 1 Comment

Spring Cleaning

I have spent the past two days doing some major “Spring” cleaning in the house. The jobs I have been doing are the unseen jobs. The jobs that only I will know I have done (and Mr. Michie, of course).

I spent all of Monday gutting our bedroom. That is they only way to describe it: “gutting”. I reorganized all of my drawers, went through the closets, set up a bag for clothes that I would donate and clothes that would become part of a quilt and clothes that are too sad to do either of the before mentioned with, so they went to clothes heaven.

Today, I have reorganized my pantry, so now you can actually walk into it and not have to climb over things or tie a rope around your waist, so someone will be able to pull you out if you need to be rescued.

I also and this was a major task for me, went through all of my old magazines. I decided what I would hold on to and what I would bring to school to recycle. I have to say, I hear my old Martha Stewart’s calling out to me from the bag by the door, (“Jennifer, can you hear me?”, sung to the tune from Yentl)but I am strong, I have lived with them in a basket for ages and paid no attention to them, so, as Martha would say: “its a good thing”.

I will admit and I have admitted this before, I do love to clean, it is satisfying. But, this type of deep cleaning is not only physically exhausting, but a bit mentally exhausting too.

Once you get in a groove, deciding what to keep and what to get rid of is easy, you just have to find that groove. I did and now I have a pretty bare closet and an empty drawer in my cupboard.

There is a few new things I need, like a few new shirts. I seem to go through them all to easily at work. I come home with paint, ink, a tiny hole where I have caught it on the edge of something, that over time becomes a series of holes. My clothes take a beating, but you can’t expect anything else when you work in an Art Department.

I am taking a break tomorrow from cleaning and will finish up a few little left over things this week. The main purpose for cleaning the pantry was so that I could access all of my craft supplies again and not have to fight to get to them, because I have a few projects up my sleeve for this break. They are for someone else and not for me, but I still might give you a little sneak peek here and there, so stay tuned…

March 10, 2012 / 3 Comments

Staying Cozy…

Mr. Michie is working, I have been “Spring Cleaning”, since we “spring” forward tomorrow and we are just staying cozy, because there is a chill in the air.

I think I shall reward myself for a cleaning job well done, by doing a little shopping, I have a few surprises I need to pick up at Cath Kidston and if you go there, you never know what else might jump into your basket.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend, wherever you are!

(Image found here, embellished by J. Michie)

**OOPS! I must be more eager to Spring Forward than I thought! I just read my calendar wrong, it wasn’t little old England that was springing forward this weekend, we still have a bit more of a wait!

February 22, 2012 / 1 Comment

Winter Birds

I have finally taken down all my twinkle lights and did a little “Spring Cleaning” in the house last week, but, it is still Winter time to me. There are still frosty mornings yet to come, chilly nights and starry skies yet to be had and I thought it only appropriate that my little winter birds continue to stay out and grace us with their presence.

They make me smile every time I look at them and they are particularly cozy to look at, while listening to Classic FM on my old radio, watching the candle flicker and drinking tea. Happiness is a little pair of winter birds…

February 16, 2012 / 1 Comment

It’s Possible!

“It’s possible for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage!”

If you know the lines to that song, than you know one of the sweetest Rodgers & Hammerstein shows that ever was. We are on our Winter break this week and while I was busy in the house cleaning, I flipped on the TV and saw that “Cinderella” was on and I just had to sit down and watch it.

I can still remember the first time I saw this on TV when I was little sitting in front of the set with my footed pj’s on, I was mesmerized. Just as my parent’s were when they would tell me about the first time they saw it and what a really big deal it was, for something like that to come on TV. It still holds as much magic for me now as it did then. There is such an air of nostalgia around it; the colors of the costumes and the set design, it is beautiful.

I adore when they put something so sweet and wholesome on television during the school breaks, something you could sit down and watch with your children while you work on an art project, something that will make them think and not just “talk” to them, that uses intelligent language and no slang. In my own little corner in my own little room, this was the perfect thing on TV to take a break to today. Well, back to work…

January 9, 2012 / 2 Comments

The January Clean-up

I have no image for today. I have been under-the-weather this weekend and it has carried through into the week.

I did a little blog “cleaning” over the weekend, there is still a few more things to do. I took away my Christmas designs and went back to the usual “Jenny Wren” look. I have done a little of that in the cottage as well. Things were organized and straightened, a few things put back in order, but still things to be done, it will get done in time.

I celebrated Epiphany on Friday night with a Christmas movie and a cheese pizza, surrounded by the glow of my Christmas lights. They are still up, I can hear you gasp, but I can’t bear to take them down yet, it is too dark outside still, I need the coziness inside.

We went into Marylebone on Sunday as Mr. Michie wanted to get me out of the house for a bit and one particular street we wandered down was littered with Christmas trees, all lined up against their coal black railings to be taken away by the bin men.

It made me sad to see. Christmas is over! The seasons change and so with it, do we. I will get around to taking my ornaments down, I have a few paper whites to plant that will bring a little sunshine to the cottage, but that along with my Christmas lights, will just have to wait for the weekend…

September 23, 2011 / 2 Comments

Cleaning

I have had to change my cleaning schedule around since school started. We have been very busy since going back to school and I have not been able to keep up with my dusting and vacuuming like I normally would.

So, I hatched a plan: I decided that I will do all my housework on Thursday nights. I was tired when I came home yesterday as it was almost the end of the week and the thought of cleaning was not what i wanted to start doing, but I rolled up my sleeves and got down to it! I am one of those odd people who does enjoy cleaning, it is such a satisfying job!

And the reward, for me was worth it! It was so nice to come home from work today, to a clean house with everything smelling fresh and sparkling. It was like a weight was taken off my shoulders. It is a nice way to start the weekend!

July 17, 2011 / 0 Comments

Lazy Sunday

Today we have had a quiet lazy Sunday in and around the house. I have caught up on laundry, read a little and listened to music. While, Mr. Michie has done a little reading himself, worked on writing a paper and a new blog post. What could be better than a quiet day to just be?

We made tomato salad for lunch on grilled bread: